The night the Dragon cries
by witchfingers
Summary: [HPxFMA crossover] Voldemort gets a new ally to whom he almost bows down to, and meanwhile, another year starts at Hogwarts...
1. The Prophecy

**Everyone seems to have one of these lately. So I'm going in for one. An angsty one, with the baddest bad guys as characters- as usual. **

**It would take place _instead_ of TQoS: after crossing the Gate, instead of coming into Nazi Germany they come into the Harry Potter World after book 6. But as most characters are boring they won't appear. (like Bella or Slughorn or people of the sort whose names I can't remember.) And as I didn't read book five, there's no Order of the Phoenix and whatnot either. So it's basically upto bookfour + Dumbledore dead. And no romantic relationships between Hermione Ron Harry Ginny or whomever the heck.**

**Screw that, I have no idea of Harry Potter because I hate almost all the characters. But I thought I would try my luck with a crossover. Happy? DON'T FLAME! I'll learn more as I go.**

**_I'm not familiar with the HP English terms, since I've read the most of it in Spanish. Forgive my ignorance, correct me if you want._**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or HP. If I did, then I'd know all the HP names, and Hohenheim would be a famous alchemist! That man rocks >XD**

**CHAPTER ONE: The prophecy.

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_The Gates open, and when that happens, a big contrast takes place: envolving black clashes against soulless white, ignorance with truth- even life with death. The Gate itself really is a true work of art, and if you look close, the limited range of colors is proporcionally distributed to make it both the most interesting and dreaded place to be. The person who winds up in the Gate is either too hopeful or too desperate, too good or too bad. There is truly no shade of gray there: it's either black or white._

_The Gate is a place of contrasts._

_But that is not exactly what you think when you are standing right before it, am I correct?_

Of course I am.

¡

'Stop cowering behind the door, Wormtail'

'M...master...?' the chubby, bald man whose nose twitched every now and then, much like a rat's, answered as he came into the room, trying to make himself as small as possible.

Lord Voldemort, the great Dark Wizard, curled his lipless mouth into a sort of sneer, which seemed to come naturally out of years and years of practice. Wormtail was lucky that his master was in a fairly good mood that one night, because he would get upset when the news were delivered to him.

'Master... I am deeply sorry to inform you that Nagini was found dead.'

'Really' Voldemort said, finding the electric bolts of thunder outside suddenly attractive. Wormtail breathed relieved. His master, as powerful as he was, already knew it. His ratlike features winced, though, when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named called his name.

'Wormtail' he said, stroking his chin, 'Get Snape to come here, immediately.'

¡

'You called for me, Dark Lord?' Severus Snape said, kneeling down to Voldemort's tall and sleek figure, which was currently turning his back to him.

The Dark Master ignored his subordinate's question, and started speaking, apparently to himself. 'A long time ago, before having his soul sucked by a dementor, a wizard of great power, a dark wizard, announced a prophecy.'

He turned around to face the Death Eater, with his diminute eyes that were the same as a snake's. 'The midnight when the sky's cries kill the great snake, the Gate will open to reveal that one who has won over time and death' Steely, Snape listened on as Voldemort kept talking. 'That great snake in the prophecy was Nagini. Tonight is when the being beyond death will come from the other side of the Gate.'

Snake stood up. 'My Lord, ten minutes to the midnight.'

Voldemort exited the room, followed by a shadow and the sound of a cloak oozing, which was really of what Snape consisted.

¡

The damp corpse of Nagini's occupyied a large area on the yard of the castle which was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's current residence. A thick curtain of rain and mist reduced the visibility, but that was not a reason for Voldemort and his trustworthy companion not to be fully attent to the unfolding of the events. The dark wizard could have easily diverted the rain from falling onto him, but his arms hung immobile at his sides, and his wand rested in a pocket of his rich robes. Each thing which could prevent the prophecy from happening in a natural course should be avoided, since that being that was supposed to emerge from the Gate -an ancient symbol of alchemy to the Wizarding World- would be one of the strongest creatures ever seen by the eyes of a mortal: a homunculus.

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	2. To emerge from the stone

**Perhaps some spoilers for either book 5 or 6, don't remember where it is they talk about Horcruxes.**

**Ohhh BTW, this is not going to take place _instead _of book 5 or 6, or things like that! (I'm so excited I got so many reviews!), it's going to take place _after_ book six.**

**And perhaps I make long sentences that could be long... but take into account that I'm into descriptive writing.. and that my knowledge of the language is not perfect... :P**

**Ohh and I decided Slughorn will appear XP**

**CHAPTER TWO: To emerge from the stone.

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_Humanity, and non-humanity in this case, cannot gain something without losing something of the same value._

_Nagini, the great snake, was one of the seven Horcruxes- or parts that conformed the whole of the Dark Master's soul. _

_In order to fulfil the prophecy, the snake had to die._

_It meant to lose something to acquire another thing of greater power. Voldemort's decition had been terminant. _

_In order to bring the homunculus to that side of the Gate, the Horcrux should find its death._

_Voldemort believed in the law of Equivalence of Exchange._

**:ooo:ooo:**

Beneath the crevices and rapidly-decaying scales of the large reptile, soft symbols appeared, as if they were being drawn by an invisible force on the stone of the yard. Those symbols became more and more accentuated, until Snape and Voldemort could see a clear circle, with many other lines and ancient runes across, around and inside it.

The light in the circle became tainted with evil, and what had started as a pure white glow, gradually degenerated into a wicked red one. Bolts of thunder-like energy rose from the alchemic circle, and the rain that fell on it turned into steam, a reddish steam. Nagini's body started to sink into the ground, becoming one with the blood-specked floor tiles, until it dissappeared completely, leaving only what looked like an eye sprouting from the floor, which had totally turned into stone.

The circle glowed with increasing intensity.

Snape's eyes narrowed as he waited, almost having convinced himself that nothing would come out which was as great as his master said.

But he was proved wrong, the moment a creature of the likes of a dragon came bursting through the stone floor, right out of the circle. The creature remaint for a while on the air, studying with piercing voilet eyes both figures of the dark wizards. Emitting an unnatural howl, it flew straight into the village that sat further down the ladder of the hill (atop which was the castle), and unleashed its wrath on it, destroying the buildings and massacring the people who dwelled there.

After satisfying that sudden crave, the creature hovered back to the castle, soaked in blood, where it noticed how the face of the one who looked like the one with the power hadn't changed a bit. It produced a slight, almost murmur-like sound, which rang in their ears like a human laugh.

'Can it speak?' Snape asked, his eyes fixed on the green mass of the dragon's body.

'Ask him.' the Lord said, with a deep, collected voice, apparently unturbed by the evil smile playing upon his deformed mouth.

'To answer your question, human, yes, I can.' the dragon said, his voice sounding a bit rusty and scornful. 'And I can do _more_'

Thin droplets of rain soaked them both, as master and servant watched with interest how the shape of the dragon became smaller and smaller, the green, tough coating of scales turning into pale-cream colored flesh, the animal face into a human one with suave, defined features. Wild dark hair shot from the top of his head. He stood up from his crouched position, to reveal well-toned forms and muscles, barely covered by a black, tight-fitting outfit.

Snape subconsciously took a step backwards, alert, and reached for his wand, but Voldemort rolled his eyes and widened his smile. 'I am Lord Voldemort.' And one would have expected him to go on... but he did not.

'Voldemort?' The newcomer shapeshifting creature, in the body of that teen, repeated. 'Weird name, old man.' he commented, looking at his nails as if they were much more important than the strongest dark wizard in the world. He then looked at him, and the Dark Lord felt deep, calculating violet eyes bore into his skin.

'I am the sin of Envy.'

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**This is going to be some sort of ... ugh, parody (in lack of a better word) of TCoS, so expect Ed, Hohenheim, Noah, both Alphonses, trouble with the Gate, etc etc etc.**

_**Why would Voldemort want to kill a part of his soul? Find out soon...**_

**THANKS SO MUCH TO YOU GUYS WHO REVIEWED! I STILL can't believe I got -gasp- _nine_ for the first chapter only...!**


	3. The one who came after

**Alright! I'm getting good reviews for this story! Which is good! More than good, awesome! And since the chappies are short I can write them fast when I come back from school. Onto chapter three, then!**

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**CHAPTER THREE: The one who came after.

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'M...my head...'

Another figure rose wearily from the still glowing alchemic circle. He looked at his surroundings. 'Where am I?'. The place was deserted. 'But... I'm alive.' In the distance, down what seemed to be the top of the hill he was on, he spotted some lights. With his body feeling almost pierced by the pain each step provoked, Edward Elric made his way to what he believed to be a village...

**:ooo:ooo:**

'I want to propose a deal, homunculus.' Voldemort's suave voice said.

'Which would be?' Envy retorted, amused. For all he cared, he was about to make some kind of morbid trade with the evillest dark wizard in all history. And he wasn't feeling exactly excited or anxious.

'From the place you come from, wonders like artificial life can be possible.'

Envy hissed.

'But in this world, such things are beyond the human reach.' he said, pointing delicately at himself with his milk-white bony fingers. 'But you have the knowledge... Work for me.'

'And what would I gain should I accept your offer?' the sin asked, smiling in a rare way.

'Power. Unimaginable dark power.'

'I'm sorry to dissappoint you old man, but I am not going to be ruled by anyone.'

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named sneered softly.

'Then, be my ally.'

**:ooo:ooo:**

The Dark Lord had made very, very clear that his _new guest_ was to be treated like himself, if not better. After all, he held the power, and he was immortal, something that not even Voldemort had achieved completely.

It was not as if Envy had made the Death Eaters' job difficult. He got used immediately to be served as a king. 'If this was going to happen, then I should have died sooner' he joked with the shaking man who was offering him fresh, musk green robes.

'Hey human, quit shaking or ...'

The Death Eater failed to comply with Envy's wish. The heavily cloaked figures that roamed through the castle saw with hinted surprise how a corpse, with his features twisted in agony, was thrown out carelessly from the room where the Guest of the Dark Lord was staying. That inforced the rumors that the creature concealed there, was a monster.

That, and the otherworldy laughter that echoed after that...

**:ooo:ooo:**

'What the... what's happened here?' Edward asked, his eyes wide with shock. The lights he had seen from the castle were really the burning remains of the houses in a village, which was now completely destroyed and stained with carcasses.

'Don't move!' a voice behind him commanded, and, after a flash of light, Edward collapsed into unconsciousness...

**:ooo:ooo:**

'Is that so-called sin of Envy an animagus?' Snape asked his master with a frown.

'Oh, no.' Voldemort said softly, with his usual know-it-all venomous tone ringing codly as he spoke.

Snape didn't fall too much behind the Dark Lord in the reptile-like tinge of the voice. 'Then what...?'

Voldemort's skinless features cringed into a smile. 'A shape-shifter. Until we know more about him, I'd say he is our never-ending supply of polyjuice potion...'

**:ooo:ooo:

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**If Voldy's explanation seems kinda lame, let me remind you how useful polyjuice potion is: thanks to it, Moody aka B.Crouch jr could pull the threads from inside Hogwarts without being detected, and said Voldy could come to life again, kinda incomplete, but yeah, you get the picture. So it's very important, if you take into account You-Know-Who's plans for...**

**Whoops, almost let that out!**

**So yeah, review, let me know what you think so far... and if the centerish-format(how do you say it in English?) annoys you :PP**


	4. First impressions

**Dedicated to my dear friend Asura-chan ...**

**It's so awesome I get so many reviews... I'm gonna faint one of these days! Ah, and as you said you wanted more Ed... I'm giving you more Ed. I'm afraid I can't make the chapters longer, because that would mean updating slower...**

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**CHAPTER FOUR: First impressions

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'What are you going to do to him?' a female voice asked- 'He's just a kid...'

'The laws are unbreakable. But first comes the interrogation, proffessor. And to confirm that one rumor...' A person entered the room, holding a copy of _The Prophet _'There _are _reports of a dragon-sighting over the place of the incident!' he said, slightly agitated, but mostly excited.

The woman spoke again, with relief in her voice. 'Then all pieces of evidence must be considered before the matter goes higher up into the Ministry.' She fixed her witch hat, which was sliding down. 'Now that Amelia Bones is dead, there are no decent judges left in the Magical Court.'

'I am well aware of that, Minerva, that is why I thought you would be interested in knowing about the dragon.' Another man said. 'Now, please tell us about it, mr. Weasley.'

A frank smile appeared in Charlie's face. 'I looked at the burns, and some of the corpses, and those are unmistakable marks of an aereal attack. As you might have noticed, there were no footprints, and that kind of damage can only be caused by a dragon, with a slight snake-like build to its body.'

'That makes things much easier.' Proffessor MacGonagall said. 'But, what would a kid like this be doing in that place?'

**:ooo:ooo:**

'Lord Envy...?' Envy tugged at the expensive velvet of which the sleeves of his musk-colored robe consisted. 'Pay attention.' the wizard said with a frown. He was tall, bony, and extremely pale, moreso than Envy, if possible. He had little, frosty eyes, and even without being told, the sin knew there was something strange with the man. After all he had learned so far, he would have been keen to hear that the wizard teaching him the basics of witchcraft was nothing less than a vampire.

'Lift the wand this way...'

Envy looked on, bored to death, and mimicked the other's wrist movement. Why the Dark Lord wanted him to learn this stupid stuff was beyond his concern.

'Now, repeat: _Wingardium Levi-o-sa..._'

'Yeah Yeah, _Wingardium Levi--o--sa_ and all that.' And he watched with amusement how the raven feather he was practising with rose in the air... almost levitating.

That was certainly something alchemy couldn't achieve. A smirk crept through his face.

It was getting good, and Envy felt it all was just beginning...

**:ooo:ooo:**

Charlie had made a rough sketch of how the dragon that was _supposed _to have destroyed the village should have looked like. But then, Minerva MacGonagall, now Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, had been quite uneasy. Because there was no actual breed of dragons that fit that description...

And to top it all, that dragon was said to be green, and green dragons were among the most dangerous.

Mr. Diggory's job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had become more and more important since Voldemort's rise, so he knew quite well what kind of magical animals were likely to cause chaos in that moment. 'The thing is' he said, concerned, 'That dragons, though hostile, are among the wisest and oldest creatures alive. Mr Weasley will agree with me,' he nodded towards Charlie, 'That they are not the kind of creatures one would expect to join... You-Know-Who.'

'We thought this one dragon might be acting upon own will' the readhead concluded, as he forged a slight smile.

MacGonagall sighed. 'We all agree that this kid can't be responsible for the murder of an entire village...'

'The problem now is, to intercept the dragon.' Charlie said, sitting on a chair and crossing his arms over the back of it. 'It looks like it dissappeared into thin air...'

'And what are you going to do with him, Minerva?' Diggory asked, eyeing the blonde kid that snore lightly on the couch.

'He's so small-built, he can't be too old...' Charlie commented.

'What the... where am I?' a male voice,that pertained undoubtedly to the now-not-so-unconscious blonde, chirped.

The three wizards turned their heads to look at him, and Charlie and Amos Diggory drew their wands out of insctinct. The short teen got on his feet immediately, and clapped his hands...

**:ooo:ooo:

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**Voldy doesn't want to become a homunculus- he just wants to be immortal, cuz you know, now he's alive but he ain't gonna live forever, and he feels that Envy has the knowledge about immortality (which he does but I'm not gonna spoil it for you! XP even if you _liked _spoilers...) so yeah...**


	5. Second impressions

**Humm... nothing to say... thanks for the awesome reviews... read on?**

**CHAPTER FIVE: Second impressions

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_It is narrow, that scrap of space that divides the two sides of the Gate. But it is vital. If one world meets the other, chaotic things, things that escape the long threads of fate, are bound to, and will, happen._

_The only thing that technically keeps both worlds joined through the flow of energy that transforms in the Gate, is the legendary substance called through ages the Philosopher's Stone._

_And there is a reason for it to be legendary._

_Because humanity has to lose something in order to acquire something of the same value..._

**:ooo:ooo:**

'Well well... this is interesting.' Voldemort mused to himself. Being one of the few wizards who were Legilimens, he found it... interesting... to find out that the mind of the one brought back from the other side of the Gate, was unreadable to him.

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Hey, you are one to react violently, eh?" Charlie said with a smile as Ed fumed at him. MacGonagall and Diggory were still speechless for what had just happened.

The short blonde clapped his hands again, and placed his left on his metal right one, that with a glow changed from a blade to a normal-looking arm.

"How did you do that?" Mr. Diggory asked, with some awe hinted in his trembling voice.

"Alchemy" Edward answered, as if it were the simplest thing on Earth.

Charlie kind of pouted. "Woah Woah, one thing at a time: We find you unconscious, we bring you here, you wake up, and the first thing you do is try to attack us with some strange form of magic you call _alchemy_. There's something not entirely fitting in this story..."

Ed couldn't help smiling- but he tried to.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy's half-gloved hands were safely kept inside the pockets of his black cloak. Though not entirely fashionable, the clothes the wizards were used to wear were practical, and very comfortable.

And black- Envy liked black.

The lower border of his cloak oozed on the ground as he walked. He was supposed to meet someone who would give him a wand that suited him, or as the ugly man with the greasy hair -aka Snape- had put it, "A wand that would stand him.". Envy didn't know what the dolt had meant with that, but was secretly excited to try out the new toy.

It had been quite a surprise to him, actually, that he was able to do magic, when from the place he came from alchemy was prohibited to homunculi.

Apparently... magic and alchemy had similar effects, but were completely different from each other.

And if he thought about it twice, _his world's_ alchemy couldn't make feathers levitate in the air...!

He shrugged at a gargoyle setted on one of the walls of the corridor. The sooner he got out of that creepy castle, the better.

He acknowledged another person walking in his opposite direction. Without looking, he made out a young man, perhaps in his late teens, with pale skin and blonde hair. Young man who happened to stumble onto him. He was ignored by the green-haired homunculus, and reacted quite arrogantly.

'Do you know who I am?' the whitish-blonde haired teen asked, twitching his nose.

Envy bent down a little, because he was taller than him. After getting a close look at him, his features twisted into a broad smirk-grin. 'Yea. An idiot.'

'What are you saying, you palm-tree head? I'm a crucial part to the Dark Lord's---' He didn't get to finish, because the homunculus' fist came in contact with his stomach and sent him flying backwards.

'Me too' he said with some implyied malice in his words.

Because he had only caught a glimpse of what that dark fool by the name of Voldemort truly wanted him to do. But the sin had already figured out, that when the time to know came, he would be the first to be... notifyied.

**:ooo:ooo:**

'Eleven inches, palm-tree wood and dragon heartstring. Still in-development, the most flexible so far.'

Envy looked with slight curiosity at the man who was called Ollivander, who spoke with a face like he was reading his own death sentence.

Which on the long-term, he kinda was...  
**:ooo:ooo:**

'What are we going to do with him?' asked DIggory.

'What do you mean what are we going to do with him!' Ed repeated, annoyed. He still found some difficulty in admitting that, not only he was _alive_, but he was _in one piece,_ and he was in some sort of parallel universe in which _he still could practice alchemy_.

A world that gave him the chance of opening the Gate again, to go back to his own world.

Of course, Edward never paid atention to a teeny weeny detail: he had not been the only one to go through the Gate...

**:ooo:ooo:

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**Alright. That of Envy having a wand made from palm-tree is LAME. But understand that my knowledge of English Botany is... very limited...**

**Legilimens: those who can read minds- like Voldy**

**I don't hate Malfoy. I feel sorry for him. I just couldn't let the opportunity pass... Envy hitting him... so priceless:P And for being arrogant, too!**


	6. What one knows and the other doesn't

**Oh well, I have a big mess with the ""s and the ''s. It's so damn annoying! I can't get used to use ' '... Well, what can I say, I'll take turns to use each?**

**CHAPTER SIX: What one knows and the other doesn't.

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"School?" he repeated. "You have problems." Snape felt a headache forming in his head. Things never would be easy if they could be complicated. He was dealing with a key part in his master's plan... key part that just happened to have bad temper issues. "The only thing you are... required to do for us, for the moment, is to work as a spy... " He was tempted to add a well-placed unforgivable curse to that sentence, but he held back the urge. The Dark Lord would surely be mad at him if he cruxiatus-ed his... secret weapon. "See human, I'm not going to any school." Envy retored, with a smug grin plastered on his face. Snape, strangely enough, got the anime vein. "You are." The homunculus' grin widened. "I'm not, what are you going to do about it? Cruxio me?" Snape growled slowly.  
**:ooo:ooo:**

"If you consider it right, proffessor, Edward could stay with us until he figures out the way back to... that Alchemy World of his." Charlie said, with a bright beam, while Ed sulked. He had committed the imprudence of telling these weird characters about his world. And, after exchanging shadowy glances at the possibility of a parallel universe, mr. Diggory and MacGonagall had agreed that, until they figured out what to do, Edward should be kept safe and under permanent watch of someone involved in the Ministry (or in the Order of the Phoenix), who didn't ask much questions about the matter (since they really had no idea about the Alchemy World on the "Other side of the Gate"... but Edward's right arm had been enough of a prove to them, after many 'ooohhh's and 'aaahhh's, courtesy of Charlie... since automail was something technically impossible to the wizarding, and muggle, communities.) Edward, as MacGonagall had been delighted to notice, posessed a knowledge she wouldn't have expected in a kid who could be barely above the 17 years of age. When he spoke about his world and alchemy, he did it with deep understanding, and she was quite enthusiastic that she could keep an eye on him while at Hogwarts.  
**:ooo:ooo:**

"Hey family, feels good to be home again." Charlie said with one of his broadest smiles, as he greeted his brothers, and, after them, a boy of wild black hair and glasses, and after that, his parents. Ed found it easy to see identify Charlie's family: like him, all of them had blazing red hair. From where he came from, he'd never seen such a natural hair color before. Yeah, that bastard Envy did have green hair- but Ed had always suspected it was because it was rotting. And, save that one weird color... "Hey Charlie, who's that?" one of the redheads asked. The one they called Ron. "Oh right, I almost forgot you" the older brother said, cheerfully. "Guys, this is Edward, he'll be staying with us until classes begin." Two of the redheads -who looked exactly alike- took turns to say: "Edward?" "Where?" "Do you see him, Fred?" "I don't think so, George." "How about I get the magnifying glass?" "Do you think that'll be enough?" "Are you saying, are you implying I'm short!" Ed said, getting scary flames in his eyes, and almost barking that at the twins. They grinned to eachother, and said, at the same time, "Relax!" Ed found them specially annoying. He shook hands with all the family, and kid of the black hair, exept for their mother; who pulled him into a tight and uncomfortable hug. "Look at youself!" she scolded, "You're skinny! For the time you stay here, you'll eat properly." She said that last part with a determination that creeped the blonde alchemist, and kinda reminded him of Armstrong... without the pink sparkles. Alright...- Ed told himself- stay alive for a while longer. This certainly can't be as bad as it looks...  
**:ooo:ooo:**

A place called 'Diagon Alley'. He had to go to a place with a strange name, and he was sure as heck it was full of strange people, too. Alright, so he had succeeded in learning the names of the things that local people called spells and charms. But it was because Envy knew well that if he wanted to survive in that new world, it was vital for him to learn that. Because him being the perfect chameleon was just a matter of culture. And surviving in that world, Envy thought with a smile in his lips, was a piece of cake if he took into consideration all the factors: He was immortal. He was slowly becoming the Dark Lord's plans' keypart. And, perhaps the most important: he knew he hadn't been the only one to go through the Gate.  
**:ooo:ooo:

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**Gomen ne it took so long! I've got a new computer and it doesn't allow me to open... thus I'm using a friend's comp. and it takes me quite a long time... review **


	7. Clash of habits

**Hey! Sorry for the delay... bah, this one didn't take SO long... :P **

CHAPTER SEVEN: Clash of habits.

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Envy knew perfectly well that the only way to go out of that world, was in the same way he had come in.  
And that was why, when he was told by Voldemort himself that he _had_ to go that so-called Hogwarts place , to spy on a teacher that seemed to have knowledge about the other side of the Gate, Envy's sneer widened, and that time, he agreed.  
**:ooo:ooo:  
**  
Envy was bored. He had been given the choice of buying himself the 'school material', or having a Death Eater do it, instead. Not that Envy wasn't a lazy parson, but he'd chosen the former. If he was supposed to live among magical people the least he could do was know how they lived! He sighed. Only he could get himself into that sort of strange situations...  
So yes. He was standing at that very moment in the middle of Diagon Alley. He was clutching, a bit annoyed, a bag full of the weirdest things, he would have never imagined could exist. Never, in all his 400 years of age...  
He'd just come out of Knockturn Alley, and he couldn't say he'd liked it. Because he'd already chosen an appearance- the face he'd shown to the world while being there- and it certainly didn't match those of the people that lurked darkly in that place.  
Shoulder-length blonde hair clashed with his black robe, for dramatic effect, and he'd allowed himself to keep the violet in his eyes, because apparently, in that world, he could say he was wearing something called "contact lenses" and the people would believe him!  
Envy's eyes, or rather, _Schneid's_ eyes (he'd chosen that name while he was at it...), did a rapid evaluation of the place. Ah! There it was! He strode towards the shop, and demanded, with a smirk to his lips, a lemon ice-cream.  
He licked it without haste, and sat at an empty table. That World-beyond-the-Gate certainly wasn't so bad! Besides, he had paid everything with Voldemort's money... XD  
**:ooo:ooo:**

Ed fumed at Mrs. Weasley. "See! I'm not skinny! I'm not even SMALL! And don't say that I don't GROW UP because I don't EAT!"...  
"But if you just would..." Molly said tentatively. An anime vein popped in Ed's forehead, and he took off his shirt, to show her that he was ALL THE OPPOSITE to skinny. Ron went like, 'wow, how do you manage that', but Molly just went pale.  
She'd seen for the first time how the automail connected to his body, and she'd been left speechless. Ed, not understanding, asked, "Are you alright, Mrs.Weasley?"  
"Yes, yes dear boy." she took a seat, and fanned herself with an issue of The Prophet. "Wooh, it's the first time ever I see something like that. I think I'm going to make some tea." She commented a bit flushed, and left for the kitchen. Ed frowned, and asked Ron, worried. "You sure your mother is fine?"  
"I guess. But man that's wicked!" he said with a beam, looking at Ed's automail. "How did you get it?."  
Ed's lips formed a smirk, which, unnoticed to Ron, hinted some sadness. "You won't stomach it if I tell you. Maybe some other time..."

* * *

**Think he looks the same as always, but with the same hair he had when he was alive (ever seen chapter 50? If you haven't it's kinda like Ed's but wavy). BTW I love lemmon ice-cream! so I thought Envy should like it too (that just sounded extremely childish!)  
I KNOW, this is too short. But it's the best I can manage (remember that I have 3 stories to cope with in Quizilla, and a fourth in-progress!)**


	8. Shifting and adjusting

**I don't intend to bash Hermione! All the negative comments are courtesy of Edward...**

**CHAPTER EIGHT: Shifting and adjusting.

* * *

**

"Amazing!" Hermione cried. As Ed had had the _pleasure_ to learn, this girl was much of a -forgive the crude term- nerd. Immediately after they'd been introduced, she'd said, "And you really plan to learn what took us six complete years of study in just the summer vacations!" Eugh. Spoilsport.  
Luckily for Ed, though, Charlie had popped out, literally, out of nowhere, and said, "Booh!" and Hermione had jumped almost to the ceiling. "Charlie! Long time no see! How have you been doing?" she'd asked delighted, when she recognized the eldest of the Weasleys. "Just about fine, and you? Ron told me about your possible scholarship..." And the chit-chatter had started, much for Edward's delight, and he'd been able to tip-toe subtly and escape the torture... he didn't like it when girls lectured him. (he got memories of a... wrench. But that's another story...) Right at the moment, though, Hermione had caught Ed in the act of swinging his wand. "Amazing!" she cried "I really can't believe you've learnt so much in so little time!" She sat down on the bed (they were in Ron's room), and watched- eager to find something she could correct. She beamed. "Can you apparate?" "Uhhh... you mean...?" "Disappear from here and appear in that corner. Can you?" Ed shrunk his shoulders, and swinged the wand again... and he reappeared in the corner. "That's good. But I think you've left something behind..." she pointed out with a faint giggle at Ed's braid, which remained floating in the place where he'd been previously standing. "Haha, that's so funny" he said with a pout, and strode towards it, snatched it, whispered a charm, and put it back in its place. "Anyway, it's superb that you achieve so much with so little practice! Are you cheating or something?" Ed grunted. "Yeah, I cheat, you have noooo idea..."

**:ooo:ooo:**

"You've got every petty wizard out there speaking your name in whispers, when not in code." Envy snarled with amusement at Voldemort. And then added, with venom, "How do you manage that?" The Dark Lord barely cocked his head. "But tell me, You-know-Who..." Envy went on, with a broad, twisted smirk, "what is so important for you you need me to go undercover to that shitty school?" Voldemort closed his eyes. "I do not think it is convenient... _for you_ to know so much yet, sin of Envy." "Bullshit. If you're gonna have me as your ally, then tell me the truth, the _whole_ truth. Or does me knowing it hinder your plans?" he finished, with an utmost disrespectful tone of voice which would have cost the head of more than one Death Eater. But Envy... he knew he was different. 'Special', even. He could fuck around with what Voldie told him anytime. Besides, there was no big deal in knowing what he was supposed to do. Was the Dark Lord hiding something from him? Envy felt so. "Knowledge." the reptile-like wizard said, finally. "There is a man, or may be, more, who possess knowledge. But not just knowledge about Magic, oh, no." his voice sounded calculating, but didn't lose the suave tinge... "But knowledge about Alchemy too."

* * *

**_Hey... I've noticed that since I started posting this, there are a lot of other FMA/HP stories! Yay XDDD (I dun intend to be conceited or anything :P:P)… Hey, this chappy is short, but it's not SO short! Remember to review!_**


	9. Lookalike

**This chappy is longer than the ohers... I hope it helps as a compensation. Let me know what you think about Ed's… 'new friend', k? ;)… and if Envy is too OOC in this one… please?**

**CHAPTER NINE: Lookalike

* * *

**

_"There is a man, or may be, more, who possess knowledge. But not just knowledge about Magic, oh, no." his voice sounded calculating, but didn't lose the suave tinge..._

_"But knowledge about Alchemy too."_

Envy smiled, slowly. "What kind of knowledge?"

Voldemort's eyes darkened. "About the Gate. The Philosopher's Stone. And..." his lipless lips curved into a smirk. "...about human transmutation."

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy was lying on his awesomest king-sized bed. Let me give you a small description of his room:

The walls were of cold stone, of the likes of those you'll find in any ordinary castle from the Middle Ages (that hasn't had any kind of muggle restoration...). The room had only one window but ah, what a window it was! Its frame was made of cherry wood (just like the rest of the furniture), the glasses were genuine crystal, and the curtains were of a rich, green velvet, with gold-thread decorations. All the things inside the room were unnecessarily rich and luxurious, in some dark kind of way, but one wouldn't expect less from Voldemort's headquarters.

Anyway, Envy's favorite part of the entire bedroom was, precisely, the bed. It was so soft, so comfy, and so... so... so _green_! His hands were behind his head, and his legs were crossed. The wizard robes were scattered messily on a chair. For a while, the only thing he did was watch uninterested how his bare chest went up and down each time he breathed. "_Heck_" he thought, annoyed, "_Knowledge about the Philosopher's Stone, human transmutation... each time I like this less and less. It just irks who the bastard Voldy talks about is. Someone who came from my side of the Gate... but... _" Envy's eyes narrowed.

"It can't be..." he whispered.

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Ed! Are you ready?" Harry called. "Sure, give me a second..." Ed answered from somewhere in the remote depths of the bathroom. Some minutes later he came fully wizard-like clothed, his wet hair falling over his shoulders.

"What are you two doing, hurry up!" Hermione's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. "Yeah, come on! Luna won't wait forever!" Ginny added.

Right. Luna Lovegood, Ginny's best friend, had invited everyone -Edward inclusive- to her birthday party. There had been a general uneasiness, but in the end, it had turned into a general condescendence... and so everyone marched towards the door (..Edward inclusive), or, more precisely, towards the chimney. It was, of course, Ed's first experience with flu powder.

But trust me, it wasn't as bad as Harry's. In fact, it was pretty good...

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Hey, Herr... Hermion...e."(he still had some difficulty with her name...) Ed shuffled his feet trying to look innocent, but he just didn't. So he gave up.

Ron chuckled, but she stepped on his foot, annoyed. "Mm?"

"Are you sure we are in the right place?" he asked, eyeing with distrust the rusty iron gates. The trees were leafless (even if it was _summer_...), and, now and then, a flock of crows flew by, making a lot of noise. He got the scare of his life when, in response, the gates opened with a high-pitched chirping. "I guess so" Harry breathed, being the first one to take a step into the Lovegood's peculiar garden. Ginny followed shortly after, and then Ed, Fred and George (to Ed's dismay, they'd been invited too...), and etc.

Ed's eyes widened, when a too familiar face came running to greet them.

"... Win?" Ed's body froze. "Hey, you ok?" Luna asked waving a hand before his eyes, concerned. "Y-yeah, sure..." he stuttered.

She frowned. "You're lying."

"You..." Ed felt at a loss of words. He decided to tell her the truth... bah, _a version_ of the truth. "You look exactly like someone I know..."

Nudged by Ron and Harry towards the house, the rest had already left, being currently only Ed and Luna still in the garden.

She ohh-ed. Then smiled. "Come on, Ed-ward, I'm going to show you around."

"Ehh... okk-----" he felt his automail arm pulled by that girl, who was exactly _Winry's clone_. She stopped, and turned to look at him, with curiosity. Without asking for permission, she pulled the sleeve of his robe, shirt, etc, upwards, to leave only the bare metal, shining under the moonlight. She gasped. "What's this? It's so... nice!" was her immediate reaction.

Ed gulped. He barely distinguished a familiar glimpse of... obsession, shining in her eyes. After all, this Luna girl, and Winry... they were not too different. It was kinda scary, but it was very relieving, too.

"It's called automail..." he explained. "It's a prosthetic limb, actually."

She looked at him, sympathetically. "So, you don't have an arm?"

"And a leg..." he added with a sigh.

"That's sad. But I figure you won't want to talk about it. So come on, my father is waiting for us, he said he was preparing a surprise, and I don't want to miss it!" she said quite excited, and pulled Ed along. He mustered a quiet smile, actually thanking the darkness for hiding it from her.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy's hair fell over his eyes, darkening his face. As if it wasn't dark, already. With anger he pursed his lips, because he knew all too well that he was being used in the most disgusting way, even if he caused something close to admiration to the Dark Lord. He gritted his pointy teeth, as he paced in his room, now and then looking out of the window. The wind blew harshly against the naked tree. In the distance, he guessed the outline of a tattered pole flag.

Envy wondered with hate, impotence, if there was truly some way in which he could relieve himself from the stressing stretchness inside his chest, that provoked a somewhat choking feeling, each time his thoughts wandered back to the alchemy-using world, which he considered the most like his home.

The stretchness became only tighter when he reminded himself, with an ice-cold irony, that there was truly no place the sin of Envy could claim as a home.

* * *

**TT that was such a sad ending! Poor Envy:(**

**Ooo °.° Asu he no Basho! Cuuuute song! Can anyone tell me how to download Mirai, by Mayumi Yamaguchi? I can't find it with Ares!**


	10. The namesake

**OK! So this story has now TEN chappies of life; and like, 71+ reviews. Now that's quite the achievement of the month, haha. To celebrate it, this part is longer than the others... but don't get used to it! Haha...**

**CHAPTER TEN: The namesake**

_Namesake: two things that, being different, have the same name.

* * *

_

"There are surely loads of unnecessary races in here, huh?" Envy mused, and flipped the page of the book. He was all sprawled on the bed, browsing through a thick encyclopedia, deciding to which country he'd pretend to belong. The most similar to Amestris, at least to him, seemed to be one called 'Germany'. And so he went for it. Even if he pretended not to, he was having some fun. And now that he'd chosen his nationality, he could as well pick a name.

So much trouble when in the end he was just another foreigner in that melting-pot of a country that seemed to be called England.

Swinging his wand without looking, he hissed through his teeth, "_Accio_" and an English-German dictionary came floating hazily towards his hand. He started looking for the word 'envy', in it. "Neid" he read aloud. He twitched his nose. "Schneid was OK since the start, why did I even bother." he said. "_I'll look for a last name later_." he thought with laziness, picking both the dictionary and the encyclopedia, and throwing them across the room without a care. After all, those weren't precisely _his_ books, so...

**:ooo:ooo:**

Apparently, Envy thought without much delight, there were mere weeks left before the start of 'classes'. In order not to degrade himself, he liked to think about it as a "temporary intelligence work", that would benefit him (and only him) on the long run.

Because it had been very humiliating if he hadn't.

Ack! He slapped his forehead. "_I'm starting to be affected by this stinking place!_" He was supposed to be thinking about his surname, not about nonsense!

Hmm... he should make it simple. So he wouldn't confuse it, or forget it. "Sin" he said unenthusiastically, and looked that up in the dictionary. "Fehler... Schneid Fehler." His eyebrow twitched. "That's so plain." he laid back on the bed, and let the thick book slide from his hands and fall to the floor. After a while, when he felt like starting again, he picked up the dictionary and stole a quick glance at the page he was currently in. "Von: (from a place, procedent of..) title of nobility..."

A grin spread across his face.

"Schenid Von Fehler..."

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Hey there, foreigner!" a teen called. Ed spun around. "Foreigner?" he repeated, looking on with curiosity at the one who'd addressed him as such.

"Right, you." he said, catching up with Ed. "You're new to London. So where do you come from?"

"Far away" Ed answered flatly, still looking at the teenager with a wtf-look. "Oh, right. It's just that we don't see many people going around with a symbol of alchemy scribbled on their overcoats, pardon me."

Ed rolled his eyes, so as to hide his twitching eyebrow. "I'm a fan"

"Haha, alright. My name is Seamus Finnigan, by the by. And you're...?"

"Edward Elric..."

Seamus slapped his forehead. "Ah, right! You're the guy who was staying at Ron's huh? 'Guess I'll be seeing you at school in some weeks, then."

"Yeah, sure." Ed answered, with a tired sigh. "In some weeks..."

"I have to go now, man, so yeah, see ya. Just let me tell you..." he leant towards Ed a little, so as he would hear him when he whispered "Alchemy is a symbol of power in some circles, and that flamel stands for Eternal Life. Keep it down unless you want to catch the eye of some Death Eater." He winked at Ed.

"Later!" he called, and ran towards an elfin-looking woman who appeared to be his mother.

"Death Eater? What on Earth?" Ed said to himself (earning some hushing glares from passerbys...) "_Awesome._" he thought bitterly, "_If there aren't homunculus, there sure will be homunculus-wannabes. I think I have discovered a new law of Alchemy._"

* * *

**Schneid von Fehler: word game in German. Neid means Envy; and according to my dictionary, Fehler is should be 'sin'. Schneid, even if it's a way of disguising the 'Neid', means by itself 'to cut'. So yeeeeeaah. **

**And I'll be creating some suspense; feel free to take some guesses:**

**How will Envy go into Hogwarts unnoticed?**

**How did Seamus know about the flamel?**

**WILL ED AND ENVY GO BACK TO THE WORLD BEYOND THE GATE?**


	11. Just before the start

**Eek. I don't like this title! I'm sorry I couldn't come up with anything better :P**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: Just before the start.

* * *

**

"Don't you think that it will be too obvious?" Snape inquired, in his usual cryptic voice.

A sneer crept across Voldemort's features. "Obvious? No." he took his time to go on. "Schneid Von Fehler's file states clearly that he is of German origin, that he has attended to Durmstrang, in Bulgaria, since his first year, and that he solicites a transfer to Hogwarts , in Great Britain, due to his mentor's immediate requirements in the Potions Department of the Ministry of Magic."

Snape nodded, but Envy, up to then gone unnoticed, said "And is there a proof that Schneid has actually _been _to this Durmstrang place?"

"Feeling sharp, eh?" Snape mustered with a poisonous smirk. He was greeted by Envy with one exactly similar. Snape shrugged it off, ignored it, and went on explaining, "We've got _contacts_ in that place. Strong contacts. Stronger even than those in Germany."

Envy nodded. "Who's this 'mentor' that you talk about...?"

Voldemort smiled suavely, but his twisted mouth seemed to indicate otherwise. "Ever heard of polyjuice potion...?". He nodded towards Snape. Envy's eyebrow twitched.

The former potions teacher grunted. "I like it as much as you do"

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Chill Edward, you'll love Hogwarts" Hermione said, with a dreamy sigh.

Ed exchanged glances with Harry. "Is she ok?" he finally asked.

Hermione buffed. "I heard that!"

Everyone laughed.

George laughed, in a tone that walked the line between absurd and macabre. "Mr. Filch said that he'd be implementing his new detention method this year."

"Does it include chains and thumbs, Fred?"

"I'm not sure, George... but knowing him, it probably does..."

"Yeah..."

Ed frowned. "Thumbs and chains?" His reaction won the twins a elbow-in-the-ribs courtesy of Ron. "You're scaring him you grindylows!"

"Hey, someone's actually been doing homework!" Fred taunted with a smirk.

Ron's ears went red, and there was a general laugh again.

Ginny came down the stairs, very concentrated in finding her (not so) new Transfiguration book.

"Hey Ginny..." Ed called, over the noise of the chattering.

"Huh?" she answered turning her face towards him.

"How's Luna been doing?"

Ginny flashed a slight knowing (or not so much, but anyway...) smile at him. "Dunno, haven't heard of her since her BD..." Ed sank his chin in his palm again. Until he remembered something.

"Hey Ron, do you know some guy called Seamus?"

Ron huh-ed, and then said "Why, yes."

"I met him the other day. He seemed to know stuff about Alchemy."

Suddenly the room went silent. Perhaps because of Ed's sorta cryptic sorta serious voice. "I took classes of Ancient Runes last year..." Hermione said, thinking aloud. "Seamus was in there too." She paused. "Once we had to do some research work, I recall he did it on Alchemy. If I'm not mistaken, though, I think his family has something to do with it. But you can always ask him..."

"I guess I will" Ed said under his breath.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy's violet eyes tore from the window, and fixed upon the Death Eater that was bringing him a raven-black trunk. Freaked to his bones, said Death Eater bowed ever-so-slightly and left the room. Envy smirked, showing off to no-one in particular his shark-like homunculus teeth. Going for the closet, he picked up a bunch of things that the list of... school stuff mentioned, and tossed them into said trunk.

Closing it as soon as he was done (he'd been kinda surprised when _even_ the purposelessly flamboyant stick of a broom fit into something so... petite...), he went and lay on the bed, his unnaturally-colored orbs fixed in the luxurious ceiling.

"_Alchemy world..._" he mustered, with a small smirk, "_I'll be there again."_

He closed his eyes.

_" Screw the Gate._"

* * *

**Gomen ne it was so short! I don't get much time to write this; and when I have time I'm not inspired ... sorry. I know it gets kinda annoying but I'll try to update part 12 ASAP. I think that they're going to Hogwarts in there! Or I could wait one more chap. and start the good stuff in part 13... XD**


	12. Adding fractions

**Right. You guessed it. I'm having a Math test as soon as the winter break is over XD

* * *

**

**CHAPTER TWELVE: Adding fractions**

Just before they'd left for King's Cross, Ed had received a letter from MacGonagall. It only read; "_Be careful, and good luck._". Those few five words had given him enough to think about for the whole car ride that took him, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny, to the train station.

And so, now they were there, and Ed found it weird that they were actually looking for Platform **9** **3/4 **(nine and three-quarters). But through his fairly long stay in the wizarding world, he'd come to the resolution that nothing, and I mean _nothing_ was impossible. So instead of asking who had been the idiot who'd named a Platform 'nine and three-quarters', he stayed shut and waited.

The answer came on its own when he saw that in order to go to that place, he had to _go through a wall_. Eek. First Molly, then Arthur, then his other four companions passed the apparently solid brick wall as if it were not much more than air. But he really didn't like the prospect of doing so.

Swallowing hard, and muttering things normal people would rather not hear, he grabbed hold of his trunk, and ran...

After feeling an odd chill, he opened his eyes, to be greeted by a friendly-looking place infested of wizards more-or-less his age. He shuddered.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Ed was sharing the train compartment with Ron and Hermione. Harry had excused himself saying that he needed to go look for something, but Ed had heard, as the boy left, Ron cough and mutter under his breath something that sounded dangerously like _Ginny_. Hermione giggled. Right after Harry left, Luna came in.

"Hello guys. Is Ginny around here?"

Ron sighed, biting back annoyance. "If I were you I wouldn't go looking for her..."

"Oh..." she whispered. "Hey Ed, how are you?" she then said, looking at the blonde teen. He smiled sincerely at her. "Living on. You?"

"Too" she beamed at him, nodded towards Ron and Hermione, and left. Hermione gave Ed a meaningful look, but he chose to ignore it. It wasn't HIS fault that the girl looked so much like Winry.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Ed felt almost hours had passed until the compartment door slid open again. A person hastily came in and closed it immediately. Without bothering to ask for permission, he sat down next to Ron and sighed. Ron, who'd been sleeping upto then, woke up as if he'd been kicked. "Aahh!" he screamed. Hermione chuckled, but the ambience was very tense. Ed had been looking all the time out of the window, and hadn't even acknowledged the newcomer. The newcomer had shut his eyes, and hadn't even acknowledged... anyone.

"H-hey!" Ron complaint sitting up properly. "Don't go scaring the hell out of people like that!"

The teen lifted an eyelid, and looked at Ron. Ron shivered at the poisonous look he'd just been given. Had his sight been kidding him... or were the guy's eyes _violet_?

"I'm sorry" the newcomer apologized, not sounding sorry at all. "Some xenophobic freak was chasing me around, and I didn't really feel like fighting or anything." Silence.

Hermione studied the stranger. He had an interesting voice, she couldn't deny it, deep and well-modulated. The glimpse she'd caught of his eyes had revealed a beautiful, almost _unnatural_ violet color, and she was fascinated with his rich gold, shoulder-length, undulating hair. Yet, there was something about him that didn't seem quite...

"What?" he asked, seeing that the girl had been looking at him all the while.

"Oh, nothing." she said casually, "I haven't seen you before at Hogwarts... you don't seem to be from around here."

He smirked, and opened his eyes fully. (She noticed she'd been right. They _were_ violet...). "I'm a transfer student." he said, "from Germany."

"Wow, that's wicked!" Ron commented enthusiastically.

The transfer student was looking fairly well until his eyes landed on Edward. An incontrollable rage burnt his insides, but he couldn't allow himself to show it. Just what on Earth was the shrimp doing there! He gritted his teeth, but that resulted in a very deformed smile.

Ron looked concerned. "Hey, you alright?"

"Sure" he lied. "He just reminds me of someone... back home."

"Oh, I see..." the redhead sighed.

"It's just that he's so small I hadn't noticed him before."

Ed's reaction was immediate.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU CAN---"

"Hey, cut it pipsqueak. Some people present value the virginity of their hearing sense."

Hermione went all red, and Ed muttered some low curses. But all that situation gave him an odd feeling... of deja vu. Just... not everyone who insulted his pride calling him short used the word _pipsqueak_...

"So say, what's your name?" Ron asked, so as to cut the tension.

"Oh, _my bad_.", the transfer student's lips formed a soft smile. "My name is Schneid Von Fehler. And you are...?"

* * *

**XD Gomen ne I cut it there in the climax :P... it's just that I'm not that good for introductions n.n; ... I SHOULD have made it longer, I know... but I wanted to make part 13 more interesting! Wee, a lot of things happen in it :D. As usual I'm waiting for reviews! You know there can't be any substantial plot development w/out them!**


	13. Under the shadow of the Castle

_Omg! Thanks so much x 100 reviews!_

**Ohhh, the moment! The guys are finally coming to Hogwarts! XDD.  
This one chappy is longer than the others! I promise! And the plot is going to get better, too :D...**

**lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Under the shadow of the Castle.**

Envy's pupils got small and cat-like just as he got down of the train. His eyes'd been used to the usual dimness of the compartment, so when they received their first wave of light -light that surged from some espectacular looking lamps and lanterns-, they became really wide.

"Some eyes you've got there" A brunette-haired girl commented. She looked tough, and, Envy had to say, pretty much ugly and square-faced. "Hitting on the new guy, Millicent?" Hermione taunted with a soft smirk. Envy chuckled, and walked in the other direction. Millicent Bullstrode's face became faintly red. "Of course not, Granger. He, unlike you, has nice eyes."

Hermione did a face, and dashed past her, to meet Harry and Ron. "Where's Ed?" The redhead asked, searching the crowd of students for a blonde braid. "Dunno" Harry answered.

A deep, raspy voice cut their chit-chat. "Firs' years! Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Ye should bett'r get movin', ye know..."

"Hagrid!" Harry chided, but was pushed by the flow of people in the other direction, until he bumped, quite painfully, against someone. "Ouch, I'm sorry..." he said, rubbing his sore spot.

"Nevermind." The voice that replied seemed to him quite cold. His green eyes scanned the stranger. It was a student he'd never seen before, at least, he didn't remember the curly golden locks, or the... peculiar eyes.

"Can I help you?" Envy said, sounding impatient and totally contradictory. It was then Harry realized he'd been staring all the way. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. It's just that I'd never seen you before."

The homunculus sighed in exasperation. "I'm an exchange student".

"Oh, look, the carriages've arrived." Ron said, popping up from behind Harry and resting his forearm on his shoulder, in a friendly way.

"What a show." Envy said sarcastically, keeping a chuckle to himself. He'd just seen the unearthly horse-like beasts that pulled those heavily decorated carriages.

"Hey 'Neid, you were here all the time?"

Envy held back an anime vein. "Ja" Ron chuckled, but Harry just stared intently at him.

"You can see _them?_"

"Them? What?"

"The horses..."

"Why shouldn't I?"

Harry's eyes darkened. "Because only those who've seen people die before their very eyes can see them."

"Oh..." Envy said distantly. "I see..."

**:ooo:ooo:**

Just right after Envy had gotten on one of those carriages, Ed got onto it, too. There was also another kid there, one Envy didn't know or care about.

But, apparently, Ed did.

"Hey, I know you!" The former FullMetal Alchemist said. "You're... Edward, right?" The other one replied, with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Yeah" Ed said, but his eyes adverted to Envy, who acknowleged him with a suave smir--smile. "And you're that pipsqueak from the train, eh?" Envy whispered, taunting him. He still was sickened to death, he was practically breathing the same air Ed did! In fact, he didn't die because he was already dead.

The other kid prevented Ed from going into a hysterical fit from hearing the word "_pipsqueak_".

"So you finally got rid of that symbol, eh?"

Ed sat back (he'd stood up during the.. umm... reaction to the mentioning of his height...), and acquired a serious look. "Yeah, I did. Not like I had a choice."

"That's good!" The other one chided, with a happy grin.

"Seamus, was it?" Ed said. When the kid nodded, he went on, "You left me wondering about something: why would alchemy attract those freaks with the funny name?"

Seamus looked on with curiosity. "The Death Eaters?"

"Aha."

At that, Envy quirked an eyebrow. "Alchemy attracts those lowlives?". While Seamus nodded, Ed looked funny; a mixture of alert and relieved. "You know about alchemy?"

Envy chuckled. "Who on Earth doesn't? It's one of the pillars of modern-day wizardy...". At that moment, the undercover homunculus was glad he'd read about the history of magic.

"Ah." Said Ed, sounding dissapointed, "_I thought you knew of the _other _alchemy._" the other two teens in the carriage heard him mutter. Envy cackled inwardly.

"Hey, my family's been involved with Alchemy for generations..." Seamus said cheerfully, catching Envy's interest. Was that guy the one Voldy had told him to seek? The answer came immediately, as if he'd asked for it,

"I don't know a thing about it, though :P" the Irish boy said sheepishly. Envy closed his eyes, and grrrred in the inside. Why would things be easy if they could be complicated?

Seamus beamed. "I went once to visit old Nicholas Flamel. I think it was two or three summers ago." Flamel? A spark lit in Ed's eyes. After all, the old achemist had been the one to finally create the Philosopher's Stone, right? Harry and Ron had once told him that. And Ed had reasons to believe that the way to make the Stone in the world across the Gate was very, _very_ different than the way in his world. And with the Stone, he could open the Gate, go back to Al, and---

Seamus interrupted his thoughts. "I remember seeing your symbol there. Mrs Flamel said something of it meaning eternal life... and trouble with You-Know-Who. She said that they were thinking of a smart way to get rid of it... n.n; "

Ed sighed. Envy had listened through the whole story, careful not to miss any thing that could make his boring job there a tad easier- because who said Envy wasn't lazy?

"Ah, nevermind." Seamus said, fidgeting with his wand. "All in all, what's your name, friend?"

"_Friend? -twitch- Dream on..._" Envy thought, but chose to smile. "Schneid."

"That's cool. German, eh? I'm Irish; Seamus Finnigan." They shook hands. Though the moment Envy's touched his, Seamus felt how a single, chilly goosebump ran through his spine.

He concluded he didn't like that feeling, or the person who had produced it.

**:ooo:ooo:**

A chubby woman who had addressed herself as "Proffessor Sprout" guided them, students of the seventh year, through some halls and corridors that finally ended in two closed doors. "Come in, come in! You should already know your way around here. As for mr. Elric and mr. von Fehler, follow me, please." Edward and 'Schneid' followed ms. Sprout until they got to another set of closed doors, only that this time, they were considerably **larger**.

"Go in, walk ahead, don't make a mess out of yourselves, and Minerva will tell you the rest." Ed assumed she was talking about MacGonagall, but Envy was just left in a haze of _slight_ confusion. The doors opened, and the both of them found that they were walking in between two large tables, which at the same time were next to two other tables, making four LARGE tables in total.

"_Dieser Platze ist so groB daB lâcherlich ist..._" Envy muttered under his breath. Some students turned around to see who'd been the one who had _spoken _in another language. Envy quirked his eyebrows at them, hinting a 'what are you looking at, there's nothing more normal than what I did...!' In the inside he was laughing furiously "_Hah, getting in-character. Who'd ever suspect a thing from someone who goes around mumbling in German?_"

Ed bit back a chuckle.

They walked, everyone staring at them, until they were at the bottom of three steps. Ahead of them, was a table, perpendicular to the other four, where sat what looked like the teachers. An old witch, whom Ed recognized to be Minerva MacGonagall, was delivering a speech to the students.

Envy shuffled his feet all the way long, barely paying attention to it. "Blah blah blah danger, blah blah blah Dumble-dunnowhat, blah blah He-who-must-not-be-named, blah blah blah...". Then she stopped and, gesturing towards Ed and undercover Envy, she announced "This first term, two students will be joining us for their seventh year of studies. I hope the whole school will give them the treat and respect they deserve..."

And she gave off a meaningful glare to the whole room.

"Edward Elric!" MacGonagall called, formally.

"There he goes!" Ron said, elbowing Harry. "Hey guys!" he whispered, winking, "Cheer him a lot when he gets sent to Gryffindor!"

Ed sat, unconfortable because all the eyes were fixed on him, on the carved wooden seat the witch was pointing, and proffessor MacGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head. He felt kinda... stupid, at the moment, But he shrugged off the feeling when no-one laughed out loud.

Ed suddenly heard a mysterious, kinda amused, voice in his head. "_Hmm... you got wits... but there is courage in you... a thirst to prove that you are capable of great things... and I see pride. And genious. Where should I put you? Slytherin? Ravenclaw? No... You'll do better in...GRYFINDOR!_" The Hat shouted the name of the house out. The people from Gryfindor bursted into applauses and cheers. Ed was given a soft side-smile by the other kid. Which could be interpreted in many ways.

"Schneid von Fehler"

The room fell into silence again.

Edward went to the table where the people with floating-red-flags-over-their-heads were, looking awkward. Just as the other one took his place, and put the Hat on by himself. The Hat's mouth-like fold pursed immediately.

"_Interesting_" Envy heard, inside his head, "_I can't see clearly in here. If I didn't know better, I'd say this place hasn't been cleaned for over 400 hundred years, if not more. But you aren't an unnatural being are you. So, where will I place you? You are not emotion-driven. But not logic-driven, eiher. SLYTHERIN is the house for you and your reptilesque ways, but why can't I bring myself to shout it out?"_

_"Because I want to go ...to that house that starts with '_G_'..."_

_"... so then... be it GRYFINDOR! _"

Unlike in Ed's case, the house didn't cheer like it was its last time ever. It cheered, but not more than that. Envy felt the always-familiar feeling surging from his gut. Envy.

Anyway, he faked as well as he could, a smile.

**:ooo:ooo:**

**lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll**

_**I think that I'll be putting some Alphonse in the next chapter. XDD**_

**Just in case;**

**Neid Envy**

**Ja Yes**

**_"Dieser Platze ist so groB daB lâcherlich ist..._" "This place is so big it gets ridicule", or sth to that effect. That one phrase was translated from Spanish to German to English :P.. taking into account that my German is awful, too.**

_**And BTW! Read my friend's (LeandroGarel's) fic! I swear it's too damn amusing, and the plot is awesome! It's about Izumi who tries to bring back Ed and Al, but instead she goes through the Gate, etc etc. It's a must-read! I promise! If you don't wanna use the link, I have him in my favorite authors list XDD**_


	14. To my brother

**As yours truly doesn't really remember how old Al is when Ed recovers his body, in chapter 51... she'll just be assuming that he's 11. Please remember that TCoS takes place _two years_ after Ed goes through The Gate, and this story is set _right after he goes through the Gate_... k? So Al (the real Al), is still quite a little kid.**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: To my brother

* * *

**

"The seat of the 'Defense Against Dark Arts' teacher is empty!" Hermione said, glancing at it now and then.

"It's _always_ empty the first day..." Ron answered uninterested, eyeing Schneid out of the corner of his eye. "Won't you ever _eat_" He finally asked, not being able to restrain himself any longer.

"No, I'm not really hungry..." The sin-in-disguise said, eyeing with distrust the many dishes before him. Used to eating only once in an irregular while, he reluctantly took a sip from the oddly-colored pumpkin juice. It tasted funny. He let out a defeated sigh. If he wanted to blend with those immature, hormone-driven teens that surrounded him, he'd have to do better than that.

He could start by actually _eating_.. but... eugh. For the sake of going unnoticed he took a bite from something that looked like... well, he didn't really _know_ what it looked like, but who cared.

Ed, on the other hand, had all the people surrounding him, sweatdropping. "Man, I think I have food all over me..." Seamus, who was sitting next to him, whined. "Ehehe..." Ginny giggled uncomfortably.

Ron, on the contrary, was beaming. "See? And mom said you didn't eat enough..." He rested his head on his palm and his elbow on the table, and kept on looking at Ed with an amused (and sincerely admired) face.

"Hey guys, look over there!" Hermione said, grabbing immediately Ron's and Harry's attention. Envy's eyes discretely diverted towards the spot she was signaling, too. Anything for a piece of information that could be valuable and get him out of that anthill...

A smirk he didn't bother to hide curved his lips upwards.

"Look at that teacher!" Hermione chirped, and if Harry hadn't known better, he'd have said she was kinda... indignant.

"He's hardly older than us!" Ron exclaimed, delighted, "Perhaps he'll have some mercy when the final exams come...!"

Luna's quiet, purposely scary voice floated behind him, making him jump in surprise. "Don't you think he looks awfully... _familiar_...?"

The four of them turned towards Ed. "Hey Ed..." Harry began. Ed looked at him (food all around his mouth), the flare in his eyes meaning 'this has better be worth the interruption...'. Harry shook his head, and just pointed towards the teacher. Ed's face became completely serious all of a sudden.

"_Al_?" He muttered under his breath, his eyes wide in shock.

**:ooo:ooo:**

_Alphonse Elric sat upright, as if a bolt of electricity had shaken his whole body. What had that dream just _been

_"Brother..." He whispered sadly, telling himself that he shouldn't cry. After all, a boy of 11 was big enough to hold back the tears. His brother didn't need him weeping, his brother needed to be pulled back from the other side of the Gate, and that was what he was going to do. And so, now more than ever, he was determined to learn all he could from his alchemy teacher, Izumi._

_And he was determined to know... why he felt that he knew the guy of the dream, the one with the curly blonde hair and violet orbs. He was determined to remember... where he had seen those artificial, cunning eyes before._

**:ooo:ooo:**

"The new 'Muggle Technology and Mechanics' teacher, you might mean?"

"'_Muggle Technology and Mechanics_'? What on EARTH is that?" Ron asked, panicking at the name of the subject. Hermione shook her head, and said, "It's a specific subject, and it's only taught in the seventh year. We'll be having it... lemme see..." She produced a timetable from her pocket, "Mm... on Tuesday mornings, from 9:30 to 11:00.."

Nearly Headless Nick cleared his throat and continued, "Ehem, yes, mr. Alphonse has been recently taken in, since the Headmistress heard of his excellent academic development in Germany, and his desire to become a professional in the various areas of----" And he kept on speaking and speaking, but no one was really listening. Edward himself was too stunned to be able to utter a word.

"_Alphonse_, you said?" He asked, perhaps not _too_ politely, but there was a relieved bewilderment in the way he spoke, that made 'Shchneid', who was all sprawled out on a couch, lift one eyelid lazily and pay some attention to the conversation.

Nearly Headless Nick looked at him with mild surprise. "Effectively, mr. Alphonse Heidrich..."

Ed smiled sadly, and said, under his breath, "Yeah, I guess... it'd never be really him..."

"Huh? Did you say something, Ed?" Ron asked, as he took a break from annoying some scrawny owl he insisted on calling '_Pigwidgeon_' or something like that.

"No, I didn't." Ed answered tiredly, and started going up the stairs towards the boy's rooms. After he left, Gryffindor's Common Room fell into silence.

Schneid bit back an annoyed growl. Having a native German lurking around certainly didn't seem nice for his plans. Was he actually _fated_ to have such a foul luck? He -almost- winced at the thought of the hours he could have spent idle, and were wasted in learning stuff about a country he'd never even been to, or previously heard about, _in a world that wasn't even his own_... to have a high chance that his plans were rendered useless by some petty teacher-wannabe.

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy walked the steps that went to the boy's dorms tiredly, and frankly, in a bad mood. Some clock downstairs marked tediously that it was already 4 am. The homunculus walked into the room without waking anyone, and actually giving his night-vision some use. After all, if you looked carefully, his pupils were cat-slit. They worked like a cat's, too.

Envy would have _loved_ to stay as away as he could from the former FullMetal Alchemist, but the only bed left was one that, conveniently, was on top of his. He did a ridiculous effort to keep back a growl that would wake any of those unnerving teens up.

All this was becoming uncomfortably personal.

"_I only came to this stinkin' place to find him... that bastard... joining that old, noseless geezer was only to make my way around here more easily. He's the same as Dante: the means to the end._"

But if the means took too long to lead him to the end... wasn't it wise to change of means? Envy fell asleep tugging annoyed at that question.

* * *

**_"but the only bed left was one that, conveniently, was on top of his." _You know, those double beds that are one on top of the other? I don't remember their name **

**R&R! n.n**


	15. To where Father is

**From ep. 51: Envy: "'Tou-san no to koro ni!" (I tear slightly and yell madly each time I hear him say that T-T)**

**Bunk beds, yes! Thank you guys!**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: To where Father is.**

**

* * *

**

"And who's going to be our DADA teacher this year?" Ron asked, halfway through his pumpkin juice glass. "Dunno" Harry answered, skimming his issue of 'The Prophet'.

"DADA? And what in the world is that?" Ed asked, munching a piece of toast, thinking, "_That sounds so-ooooo lame!_"

"Defense Agains Dark Arts, duuh" Hermione answered, looking up from her book about 'The Wizards of WWII'.

"Well, it's not so duhh for me" Ed answered, making a face at her. Harry chuckled. "Anyway, how about we get going?" he suggested, "We'll find out in some minutes, given that it's our first class."

"Alright" Ed said, standing up. "First Magic class ever, here I come!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione sweatdropped. "Enthusiastic, aren't we? DADA classes are never that good..." Seamus, who passed by, said. Ron and Harry nodded in agreement.

On their way to the classroom, Harry sighed. "I hope that this year the teacher is good. If not, being here will be a complete waste of time...". "I'm sure it won't..." Hermione said, trying to cheer him up.

Ed stopped abruptly, when he reached the door. The others walked in without a problem, and even shot him funny looks. He soon realized he was gritting his teeth, and immediately stopped doing it. He entered the classroom, and sat next to Harry (Ron was sitting with Hermione, and he wanted to make sure he sat with someone he knew...). "What do you think about him?" Harry said, tilting his head towards the professor, who was putting some papers in order, blatantly ignoring the group of students that was waiting for him to start. Ed didn't answer.

"He looks quite normal" Ron said, chirping in. Ed, in desperate need of some silence to put his mind in order, looked towards the door. The other new student was just walking in. He looked towards Ed, and flashed him a small smile, which could be interpreted in many ways. And then, his reaction when he saw the teacher, too, could be interpreted in many ways.

He stood in his place, frozen, for some seconds. Then smiled again, and went to have a seat. The truth is, that the new student -Envy- had choked when he'd seen the face of the new DADA teacher...

"Very well..." the man said, looking up from the papers with honey-colored eyes- "I am your new teacher of Defense Against Dark Arts. As you might have noticed, this year you are not going to use a book. Theory is worthless when you lack practice."

Hermione raised her hand. The man raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"How should we call you, professor?" she asked, with her perfectly rehearsed teacher's-pet voice.

The teacher looked intently at her, and said, in a flat tone, "Professor." Hermione flushed.

Ron's lips curved into a smile. "I might not now his name, but I like this guy!"

The Professor lifted his hand, pointing to his students, and suddenly a gust of wind crossed the room, hitting specifically Harry's forehead, and blowing off the bangs that covered it, showing the scar. "Ah, so you are Mr. Potter. You more than anyone need to be here, right?" He didn't say that in a question tone. Harry merely nodded, and gulped.

"Is there anything wrong?" the Professor asked, this time, looking at Envy, who had -unnoticed for the rest of the class- been glaring daggers at him. "Nothing, sir." he answered undered his breath.

"Good" The Professor stated, his face never showing the slightest hint of emotion. In particular, that one teacher seemed to be quite inexpressive, and some of his students even considered him to look bored as he spoke. As if he had been forced to teach something he considered totally _obvious_!

"Now, would anyone tell me the effects of polyjuice potion?"

The students looked at him, and then at themselves. What did a potion have to do with DADA? "Polyjuice potion allows the user to take the appearance of another person for the period of one hour... uh... I think" Ron answered, to everyone's surprise. It was quite abnormal for him to be the first one to answer a question! But it was understandable, since Hermione was still too embarrassed to even look at the Professor directly.

The teacher looked at Ron for some seconds. "Right" he finally answered, fixing his specs. "Now, Polyjuice potion can be a real problem in these times. How can you know if the person you are talking with is really who you think it is?" The classroom fell into silence. "This subject in particular can take up parts of others. From now onwards, five points less to the house of the student who thinks I should stick to teaching basic defense charms. You all understand this is not a time to be careful with the formalities." He paused, and his grave voice echoed once, before he started to speak again. "There is not a specific way to identify the difference between a real wizard and one who has drunk polyjuice potion, but there are some which can be taken into consideration ..."

And the Professor started giving his class, which turned out to be clearly advanced for their current level of knowledge. They were all furiously scribbling down notes and stuff, because that one teacher had caused a deep impression on them...

**:ooo:ooo:**

The students had all left the classroom the moment Ed climbed up the steps that led to the Professor's desk. The man was still there, writing down what seemed like a summary of how the class had went. And he had added some notes in a strange language Ed had never seen before. The man, even though he knew that the teen was there, didn't make any sign of acknowledgement.

"Sir, I need to ask..."

The man turned around, and fixed his honey gaze upon Ed. "I am not your teacher in this moment. You can call me father, Edward..."

Envy, who hadn't left for transfiguration, like the rest of the students, was listening behind the door. So, his suspicions were true. The man teaching them Defense Against Dark Arts, was no other than Hohenheim Elric.

He clenched his fists, so tightly he drew blood. There he was, scarce meters away from the person who was his driving force, the person he'd sworn to kill.

The two people he'd sworn to kill.

And he just _couldn't_.

Let me go through that again. Not that he _couldn't_, of course he _could_. It's just that Envy wasn't stupid enough to go and recklessly slaughter his only mean to go back to the Alchemy-using World... even if the slaughter of the mean was in fact his only reason to stay alive.

He stormed off, away from the father and the _son_. He wasn't going to attend any other bloody lesson that day, even if it was the first one. He was in need of something to _kill_.

At that moment, he truly felt envious.

* * *

**Oh, poor Envy. Come on, tell me, I need to know, did you guess the teacher would be Hohenheim ?( before you read this chapter...)**


	16. Of muggles, technology, and Al Heidrich

_Dedicated to SpandexJamie. Yay for Heid! Tell me if I got him IC, onegaiiii!_

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Of muggles, technology, and Alphonse Heidrich.

* * *

**

_His own reason to be alive... the one man who'd made possible that he was born again. Because, as he himself had put it once, homunculi weren't created, they were born._

_He felt impotent, desperately useless, knowing that his only way to go back was through the person he wanted, almost with obsession, to kill. But, if he balanced everything... was his own life worth so much he could afford delaying that bastard's death...? What was so important in the other side of the Gate that made it imperious to go back?_

Even if homunculi technically weren't supposed to ache without a reason, Envy's head began to throb. He was walking on the narrow edge of a blade... if he fell to either side, he was dead, and if he stayed hesitating in one point, he'd die all the same.

**:ooo:ooo:**

In the end, it turned out that it wasn't compulsory to take the Muggle Technology and Mechanics class, so the Tuesday surprised Ed going on his own to the distant classroom. For Harry it was too unnecessary, for reasons Ed was suspicious about, for Ron, it was too boring, given that he had at home all the muggle-this muggle-that rants he could have wished for, and for Hermione... let's say even Ed was impressed at how she coped with so many other subjects.

And Ed, being the logical, practical, _scientific_ person he was, had decided he wasn't interested in crap like "Divination", or "Care of Magical Creatures". He'd been talking to Hohenheim the previous day, and he'd been told by the 400+ year old alchemist-of-his-father, that the world beyond the Gate ran on an inferior form of alchemy, which they called _magic_, and on the development of machines and devices, without a need for an external source of energy.

Just because Ed wasn't fond of swinging a wand around for self-defense, and because Hohenheim had been very clear, that alchemy in this world took a greater concentration of energy to be performed in a successful way, he'd decided to take the Muggle Technology class.

For his surprise, when he entered the classroom, he noticed barely the half of it was occupied. "_I must be really early..._" he thought as he headed towards an empty desk. But when he saw the teacher, standing in front of the chalkboard, having already drawn some diagrams and explaining how they applied to a scale-model of an engine, he knew immediately that things that dealt with _muggles_ didn't seem to appeal to the average magic-using teenager. He felt a pang of sadness towards the... alter Al. "I got lost in my way here," Ed lied, trying to justify why he was late. Alphonse Heidrich's reply was a kind smile, and a soft-spoken, "Don't worry for that."

Ed looked for a while at how he went back to show what happened if you connected two wires in the wrong way, and then sat down. That was certainly an odd situation... it was as if he were seeing his younger brother deliver a class, talking about complicated, new things as if they were the most obvious ones in the whole world.

A whisper that seemed to come from behind him snapped him out of his confusion. "Yo there, pipsqueak. What did you say your name was, again?" Oh, Envy just _loved_ to pretend to be another person, if it meant he got to annoy that who he considered to be one fuck of a half-brother. Scratch the half-brother thing. He was just a fuck, son of that shitty bastard great-alchemist wannabe...

A vein of annoyance popped out on Ed's forehead. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A---"

But his reaction, which could have ended in a very gory way, was cut dry by the calm call of...

"Mr. Elric, may I remind you it is sort of rude to interrupt a teacher?" Alphonse said, looking intently at him out of azure eyes. Ed mumbled some curses under his breath.

Behind him, a swift, mocking voice rang again. "Oh, _Edward, _ja." Envy smirked widely. "I won't forget it again, I _promise_."****

* * *

**This was much of a filler chapter, to get a little bit out of the usual moral-struggle of the characters. It sucked, I know, but be patient. I tried my best. I'll get Envy back to his envious mood ASAP, lol. Ideas are always welcome, unless they are too AU.**


	17. For real

_Sorry sorry sorry I took like 3 months to update!!!!! But here it is and I think I like this chapter a lot. You tell me ;)_

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: For real**

* * *

Seamus slipped carefully out of the room, and he would have been whistling if he hadn't been in desperate need of everyone staying soundly asleep.  
His feline-like feet made absolutely no sound as they touched the floor once and again, swift in his movements as if he were the best spy.  
Probably he was.  
As soon as he had evaded Gryffindor's Common Room, he headed nonchalantly to one of the main corridors, passing halls, staircases, empty, gloomy-looking classrooms where he didn't even want to guess what creatures rested. But really, it was so, so easy. So disgustingly _easy_.  
Despite the advanced hour, he calculated it was probably around 3 or 4 am, the hallways were well lit, and some of those unnerving paintings still moved or whispered. Slipping masterfully into an empty room, he shut the door after him.  
An atent passerby would have noticed a slight flash of light coming from below the closed wooden door. When it opened, a prideful Mrs.Norris came out, but oddly, some violet glinted at the corner of her big, catty eyes.  
And so, under that appearance, Envy slipped into the library.  
The old librarian whose name he didn't care to remember was surely sleeping, and yes, that place was dark. But shapeshifting back to his green-haired self, the one he was so fond of back in Amestris, he was able to find an unused lamp in one of the shelves. Illuminated by it, he had just turned it on, he smirked. Handling it carefully, so that it wouldn't rust and make any undesirable noise that would give him away, he raised it to find the 'FORBIDDEN' sign that hung provocatively from an ancient-looking nail. Not that he really needed the light to see properly, but it sure made everything less complicated.  
He eased the glassy door open, and that made him wonder how many doors he'd opened that night alone, and walked into the long aisle, his brow pursing because there were so many books, and so old, that it would be a miracle that he could find anything interesting in one night.

He tsk-ed. He was Envy, how much could it take? Besides all the effort was worth it.

"_My-ass-knows-who wants me as his informant, but I'd like to know if he knows that he's really the one doing stuff for my sake. The idiot,_" Envy thought, looking through the window as a lone drop of transparent liquid slid down one of the many glass panels. Odd, from inside, he didn't hear the raindrops tapping happily against the roof.

It took him almost three hours to find a section of that forbidden part of the library that actually said _anything_ about alchemy. He checked and checked, and was losing his patience, when, after checking two more books without results, the third he opened emitted a long, penetrating screech that almost screamed bloody murder. He hastily slammed it shut and shoved it back into the row of books, putting out the lamp by the first mean that came into mind: letting it fall to the floor, where the glass sides shattered and the flame eventually died out.

A light drew nearer and nearer, and a sleepy voice called, "Who's up this late?"

Envy cursed everything cursable he could think of.

Seconds later, Madam Pince, the scrawny librarian, followed closely by an agitated Albus Filch, bursted into the dead-quiet library.

Nothing.

Filch muttered under his breath when a bat flew over his head, narrowly missing hitting him. "Stupid animals. In the old times, we skinned them alive to make potions, instead of letting them fly to their liking. Hmph."

If either him or Madam Pince had followed the bat, they would have found that it transformed into mrs. Norris and started heading towards Gryffindor's Common Room. And it was highly unlikely it would return to the library, because there was apparently nothing there that could be used to cross to the other side of the Gate.

* * *

**I promise I'll be introducing more suspense in the next chapter...!!!**

**Oh, and guys, I have a little doubt:**

**If this story has 17709 ****hits, is in 7 C2s, in the 'Favorite Stories' list of 38 people, and in the 'Alerts' of 58...**

**...Why do I only get 10 reviews per chapter?**

**I'm not complaining, it just called my attention...**


	18. Trying to make sense

_Gomenne. I got Filch's name wrong last chapter... it's ARGus not ALBus... Teehee :P_

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Trying to make sense.**

_

* * *

_

"Have you heard? They say someone broke into the library last night..."

Schneid sipped his hot chocolate looking drowsy, his perfect locks of golden hair all untidy, sporting almost cutely the right-out-of-bed-look.

"Hey 'Neid, heard anything?" Ron asked, and the sin in disguise wondered how it could be he was SO lively SO early.True, Envy didn't need to sleep, but that didn't mean that when he did, he woke up wanting to sleep some more.

He rubbed his eye and let out a yawn. "_Was_? Heard? What?" He said quietly, pretending not to know what the teens were talking about.

"About last night..."

Schneid stirred the chocolate that had sunk to the bottom of the cup. "Nu-huh."

Harry and Hermione drew closer to the redhead. "What do you think it could mean...?" The brunette girl asked, eyeing the other students carefully, making sure they weren't eavesdropping. She almost sweatdropped at Schneid's I'm-right-about-to-fall-asleep-against-the-table look. But, of course, Schneid was the one paying the most attention to what the trio was saying.

"It sounds quite fishy, if you ask me..." A voice behind them said, and immediately after, Ed sat next to Ron. He set down an issue of 'The Prophet', and added, "Dunno wazzup with you guys here, if you ask me you three are the most fishy thing in the whole school..."

Three pairs of eyes exchanged uneasy looks.

The blonde alchemist went on, "Here's something I caught on my way here, from one of those annoying pictures in the walls..." At that, Envy's eyes involuntarily narrowed. "Someone said they saw Seamus walking out of the Common Room."

Hermione's brow pursed, Ron gaped, and Harry said, "Seamus? No way..."

"Come, let's talk somewhere less concurred."

And with that, the three of them left, following Ed.

**:ooo:ooo:**

After a prudent time had passed, Envy decided it was alright to follow them. To know how much they knew, and perhaps, if he was lucky, learn something that could be useful. Because, to be frank, he trusted that Potter boy less and less each time... he'd discarded the obvious first feeling of disliking him because Ed had befriended him. No, the distrust he felt towards the little wizard was more like a hunch, and his hunches were usually not too far from the truth.

Chosing a dark, living-picture free place, he shapeshifted into an owl, mind set on finding the Elric and his new confidents. "_Tsk, pathetic." _He thought as he flapped his wings.

**:ooo:ogoo:**

"Those annoying pictures also said something of a broken lamp lying on the floor..." Ed concluded, eyeing the other three students. They had decided to take Myrtle's bathroom as temporary HQs, and were having a discussion over the past events there. Of course someone breaking into a library wasn't that much of a big issue, but the guys had learnt to be cautious.

So there they were. No one noticed as a light-brown owl perched on the door of one of the toilets, and stayed there.

"Broken lamps, Seamus walking out of the Common Room at unlikely hours... but that's not all." Hermione sentenced, looking stern. "They say they found footsteps in the forbidden section of the library. Of bare feet." She paused. "But do you know what's the oddest? They go _in only one direction_."

Ron looked creeped. "What do you mean...?"

"That they only walk into the library. They never go out..."

No one could say anything at that. "Could it be that someone apparated?" Ed suggested.

"It's almost impossible to apparate into the school," Harry explained, "because of the tight magical barriers. If it is that someone apparated- it looks like the only way possible, to me at least- then it must be someone inside the castle..."

The four of them fell silent.

Envy snickered inwards.

Ron was the one who spoke. "But... bare feet? What on earth...?"

They fell silent again... Until the door opened, and in came a familiar person, at least to Ed.

"I'm afraid I have to say that it's not normal to find students reunited in the girl's bathroom..." Al Heidrich mused, hands on hips, looking pensive.

"H-how'd you know we were here?" Ron stuttered. Harry nodded immediately.

"Heard you from outside."

Ed and Hermione went "Oh."

The blonde German shook his head in resignation. "Unless I get a very convincent explanation for this, I'll have to take it as an attempt to skip classes..."

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**What a cliffie, ne? ;)... Trusting the mighty claims of "UPDATE SOON"... I did. I KNOW this doesn't have THAT MUCH plot, but trust me, this filler chapters ARE neccesary. It'll all get better, and eventually end... someday. And when that happens... I'll be able to work on that AU Samurai Champloo fic I want to do!!! Yippy n.n ... That's the real reason of the fast updates, teehee!!! XD**

**Remember: favorited by 38 ppl. In the alerts of 58. Slightly more than 10 reviews p/chappy. IS IT FAIR? TT**

**Was, for practical means, is "What" in German n.n (that person uses it, a lot n.n)**


	19. Nevertheless

_Soooooooorry for the long wait..._

**CHAPTER NINETEEN: Nevertheless

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_"Unless I get a very convincent explanation for this, I'll have to take it as an attempt to skip classes..."_

Envy'd gotten bored as soon as the gang started explaining the new teacher why they hadn't gone to classes. And he suddenly came up with a plan, a very witty plan. A plan that would draw their attentions from the missing points of the information.

Because Ed wasn't an idiot, and he'd finally end up figuring out that something was out of place, and it probably didn't have to do with _magic _that one time.

So he flapped his cute, furry brown wings, and headed for the kitchens.

**:ooo:ooo:**

It was a piece of cake to take the form of a domestic elf, and infiltrate the busy place. He'd added some extra-outstanding details to his naturally odd outfit. A vibrant fuchsia teapot-cover, and a hunter knife stripped to the side of his hip did the trick. Halfheartedly swinging his wand (conveniently hidden inside the sheath of the kinfe), he apparated into the kitchens (to create the illussion that he was teleporting, like elves did), and was immediately greeted by dozens of curious domestic elves, examining him, and offering him gifts and bits of glorious-tasting food.

Envy smirked inwardly.

"Howdy y'all," he said conversationally, "Does anyone know the famous recipe for the blueberry-and-strawberry, chocolate-coated misty muffin?"

The whisperings and cordial welcomings died out, as all of them exchanged glances and shook their heads no. "What a pity," Envy went on, playing his part of elf, "I'm a lonely traveller, going trough the different places to find recipes that will add a spice to my life..."

He mentally gagged. AH, the things he did for the sake of simplicity...!

"I recently checked in this place's library, but to no avail..." he said, pretending to sound compenetrated with his part. "Too bad a book started screaming, and I had to leave before I found what I was looking for. I wondered I should ask here before going on with my journey..."

The elves muttered words of agreement, and a she-elf stepped forward, and said, "I'm sorry, so sorry we can't help you... but you can stay with us if you want..."

"Places to go, people to meet..." Envy said dramatically, and apparated out of the room.

There, it was done. He inhalled deeply, and rubbed his brow. How annoying...

But it was a matter of time until the news leaked into the school.

**:ooo:ooo:**

"...well... that certainly is a convincent explanation..." Al Heidrich said, scratching the back of his head, "Geeze, so strange."

Ron nodded and aptted his back, grinning. "Everything here's strange, professor..."

Ed was eyeing Al Heidrich, waiting to see what his answer would be. Heck, he still marvelled himself at _how much_ this person reminded him of Al, back home in Amestris.

The blonde German sighed, and stood up. "But don't think that because you've turned me into your accomplice you're gonna skip the detention..."

**:ooo:ooo:**

Envy bumped into Ed, Ron, Harry and Hermione in the corridor. "_Hallo, alles_," he greeted, gaining a couple of odd looks.

"Wazzup with the German, man?" Ron asked. He'd been meaning to for a while.

Envy -Schneid- looked sheepish. "Sorry, still don't get used to this all. Well, see you later, I got some potions class or something." Ron, Harry and Ed all nodded, realizing seconds after that they too had that class, and that mr.Slughorn didn't exactly like it if students were too late...

Hermione, on the other hand, strolled calmly towards her Ancient Runes classroom. Some little bits of information still didn't make sense to her... Lost in her mind, she didn't notice a little someone until she bumped into he/she/it.

"D-dobby?"

"Miss-y...!" he said, excited, "Dobby has something to tell you!!!"

"Ok Dobby, calm down..." she said, trying to figure what the elf might want to say.

"Please tell mr. Harry Potter, Dobby thinks it can be important..."

She nodded, sort of puzzled.

"The incident of the library was caused by a travelling, masterless elf..." And Dobby told Hermione about Envy's undercover visit to the kitchens, saying that there was nothing to worry about...

...And in that way doing exactly what Envy had planned.

When Dobby was done retelling and had returned to the kitchens, Hermione's head was filled with questions, because there were some things that made even less sense now that they had to be clearer.

In her way to the classroom, she passed by the library, and with the excuse that Al Heidrich had asked her for a book in the forbidden section but didn't know a permission was needed to enter, Madam Pince allowed her entry. Fetching a book at random, she got a closer look at the footprints, which were still there.

She left the library more convinced that there was something going on. She squeezed her brains trying to figure out why those footsteps _weren't_ of a domestic elf, but of a human, and where _Seamus _fit into the whole story...

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**Well. (breathes out)... Finally. Sorry, I've been having loads of tests, and that drained my creativity. This chappy itself sucks to the moon. But it's a filler... gomenne n.n!**

**Favorited by 38 ppl. In the alerts of 58. Last chapter got 15 reviews... it's an emprovement, thank you so much!!!!!**

**(To Terra: EnvyxHermione...? Woah, that sure took me for surprise n.n I was planning to go for cannon (RonxHermione), besides, I have a character in store. But I figure that a little more talking between them won't hurt :D)**

**"Hallo alles": "Hello everyone"... n.nU**


	20. Diversions

_Sorry I took so long! T-T_

**CHAPTER TWENTY: Diversions**

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Envy stretched on the bed, seeing how the room had suddenly sprung into life in a rather violent way. He lifted an eyelid and let it fall again.

"_Wherever and whenever in the world I am, humans are and will be disastrous_," he thought. There was a general pandemonium he'd finally discovered he could avoid if he laid quietly and stood out of the way.

"Harry, watch out!" Ron squeaked, as a rather heavy cloak was thrown at him at random.

"Sorry man, I just can't find the right one...!"

"Tell _me,_" the redhead whined, tossing the dark piece of clothing aside. "Tell _me_, my mother sent MINE by mistake to **_Romania_**!"

A couple of laughs were heard. "Take mine," Seamus offered, "It gets too stuffy in the ball to wear a cloak anyway..."

"Thanks," Ron offered meekly. Envy rolled his eyes.

"And you, 'Neid?"

"Mmmmm?"

"Why aren't you chaotically trying to coordinate the color of your clothes like us?" Harry smiled amongst a pile of socks at Ron's question.

"Maybe he's just more organized than us," he suggested.

Envy forced a smile. "There isn't much to combine when all you're gonna wear is black..."

The room fell into silence.

"Damn..." Ron finally said. "He's right."

The undercover homunculus felt the sudden urge of slapping his forehead. He really did...

Ed, sitting on his bed too, for once probably shared Envy's feeling.

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Hermione, why are you so absentminded?"

The brunette almost jumped in surprise. "G-Ginny! When did you come into the room?"

Luna, Lavender and Ginny looked at her as if she were crazy.

"I've been here all the while..."

Hermione sighd. "You're right, sorry. I'm absentminded today."

"I was saying," she continued, "That you have to watch out for the pumpkins, because Fred told me they bewitched some of them."

"What did they do?" Luna asked.

"They said," she dropped her voice, to make it sound like Fred's, " _'You'll be seeing violet for a week_...' I don't know what he meant though..."

Lavender sighed. "Well, better safe than sorry. Each Halloween with them is more tragic than it should be..."

**:ooo:ooo:**

Ron gulped.

"Do you think Hermione will want to dance with me if I ask her?"

"The way you've been eyeing her, I bet she'll be disappointed if you don't," Ed said a bit bored, halfway through a bat-shaped blueberry lolipop.

"Right. Thanks a lot, pal... Ed? Where...?" He blinked.

"Hey Harry..."

Harry hmmed.

"Is that Luna taking Ed to the dance floor...?"

Harry grabbed his friend's shoulder and turned him round. "Pretend you didn't see anything"

"Ooooooooooooooook..." Ron was about to pour himself some pumpkin juice, but then he remembered he'd been right about to ask Hermione to dance. His eyes scanned the merrily decorated room, but though the floating candles, pumpinks, and myriads of bats made it hard to see clearly, he concluded she was nowhere in sight. He tapped Harry's shoulder again.

"Hey man, did you see Hermione?"

**:ooo:ooo:**

"Proffessor Hohenheim?"

"Hermione, am I wrong?" He took off his spectacles and cleaned them with the border of his sleeve. "Shouldn't you be in the celebration?"

"I should, sir. But there is one thing that has been bothering me..."

He raised his eyebrow, and put the glasses back on. He gestured for head to take a seat.

She awkwardly stood forward, into the light the fireplace gave off. The Defense Against Dark Arts' office changed with the current teacher, and this time she was admired of how large and... old it seemed. A couple of wooden armchairs with red velvet uphostery were placed near the hearth, where the fire crackled gently. To a side, submerged in darkness, was a desk and many bookcases.

"I don't want to bother you, proffessor," Hermione said, "But could polyjuice potion be used on a person twice in a short period of time... let's say, half an hour, to turn that person into two different individuals?"

Hohenheim lifted an eyebrow. "I'm afraid I don't get your point."

"For example, if a person took it to get into a room as one person and come out as another one?"

He shook his head. "Interesting question, Hermione. But no, it's impossible."

"I see..." she said, looking down. "Thank you, proffessor."

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_Sorry for the delay. In fact, if it hadn't been because LeandroGarel wanted me to continue, I think it'd be still stuck. I'd appreciate reviews that help me improve, and let me know if I have any reader left who'd like me to keep on writing :P_


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